


Somebody That I Used To Know

by jaegerackereri



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Confused Eren Yeager, Everyone Is Alive, Fluff and Humor, High School, High School Student Eren Yeager, Humanity's Strongest, M/M, Mikasa Ackerman & Levi Are Not Related, Minor Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein, Modern Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Multi, Older Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Past Levi/Eren Yeager, Past Lives, Past Relationship(s), Reincarnation, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan References, Slow Build, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:48:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29608278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaegerackereri/pseuds/jaegerackereri
Summary: The eyes staring back at him were one of his own. He stared and stared but no matter what he did, he couldn't avert his eyes from the pictures that were presented in front of him.Those were undoubtedly his.But who was the mysterious man standing next to him?
Relationships: Levi Ackerman & Eren Yeager, Levi Ackerman/Eren Yeager
Comments: 10
Kudos: 58





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> An Ereri reincarnation story I couldn't get out of my head! 
> 
> Set in the modern time, student Eren doesn't have his memories but everyone else does. 
> 
> I really enjoyed writing this first chapter and I can't wait for Eren to finally see the pictures.

When Eren was born, he felt as though he were full.

He felt warmth, the warmth of his mother.

He felt as though a missing half of him had been filled when he looked up into his mothers warm hazel eyes for the first time.

And when she smiled, he knew he was home and safe.

As he grew older, he felt it again, when she helped him learn how to ride his bicycle for the first time without stabilizers- he looked back as the wind caught his hair and he was flying through the park at Carla's bright smile.

His chest filled with happiness.

He didn't know how to explain it, couldn't put a finger on what the feeling was but he just chalked it up to being a clingy child. Specially when he hit 10 years of age. He outright refused to go to school one of the days, demanding that he stay at home with Carla, who didn't seem concerned by his behavior in the slightest.

He should've paid more attention to that but at the time he was too busy crying and screaming to stay with her.

When he joined Junior school, the other kids found him weird, they would avoid him like the plague- some would run away as soon as he stepped foot outside for breaktime and others made their fear of him less noticeable. He was confused and hurt but his mother was always there to pick him up at the end of the school day, telling him to not look in the past but to the future.

He was alone until he was 12. That's when he met Armin and Mikasa, they hadn't reacted to him like others did at school and he was thankful for that. His self esteem was shot down whenever people looked at him with the slightest bit of judgement in their eyes.

He met Armin in the schools library, of course Armin was an absolute nerd, liking books and such. He'd been reading about the Titan Age when Eren had shown himself from around the corner. He'd asked the shell shocked looking blonde boy where he could find any book on the subject he had to revise for. He didn't notice Armin's wide eyed stare until he didn't reply straight away.

“You OK?” Eren said, waving his hand in front of the others face. He waited with bated breathe- seeing if this person would also give him that same look everyone else did.

Armin simply shook his head and smiled and Eren thought for a moment he could see tears in his eyes but he ignored it when he answered Eren's answer about the certain book.

Eren met Mikasa a few weeks later and it was as though god led light into the boys life, two new friends!

She was working at the local café just down his road. He ordered the coffee with a smile which she returned. When she went to hand him his order, she also handed him a note along with her phone number. She wrote that she was new to the neighborhood and would like to be friends with him.

He accepted, of course and saved her number the exact same day.

They didn't judge him for no reason like others did in Shinganshina.

By the time he was 16 years old, he'd made more friends than he could ever imagine.

He met Sasha, Connie and Jean when he joined high school, they were the pranksters of his year and he was on the receiving end of majority of those pranks much to his annoyance. He regarded them as friends and yes he begrudgingly agreed Jean was also a friend even though he was an idiot.

Marco, Historia and Ymir joined the pranksters and thus joined Eren's gang as well, though he wasn't as close to them as the others.

He accepted Marco because he kept Jean in line and Eren knew Jean had a massive crush on the freckled boy.

Historia and Ymir kind of got along with everyone as Historia – also known as Christa- was one of the popular girls. Ymir pined for her so she went wherever the little blonde went.

He felt so blessed now that he had found all of the people he held close to him and the full feeling only multiplied when he walked through the school gates.

He was welcomed into Christa's waiting arms much to the annoyance of the over protective brunette by her side. “Don't get any ideas, Jaeger...” Ymir growled after the hug ended.

He simply rolled his eyes at the comment. He was used to it.

“Are you ready for Mrs. Zoe's lesson today?” Christa pondered.

Mr's Zoe was one of Eren's favorite teachers- he did love history as well- but she really made his day, from her stupidly happy attitude to her sudden outbursts.

He saw the prankster group from the corner of his eyes and he waved in greeting, giving Jean the middle finger before Marco chastised him for instigating a fight and teasing the horse.

He gave only Marco an apologetic smile and the boy seemed to accept it, Jean neighed in protest.

“Hello Eren.” Armin came up by his side, adjusting his frames in habit to being in a crowded place. Eren went to reply before another person bumped his other side. Mikasa gave a nod in greeting, not one for words. “Morning both of you.” He replied as the three made their ways to their first lesson of the day.

“You like History, don't you, Eren?”

“Hm?” Eren looked up at Armin, already getting his books ready to place on the desks. “Yeah I guess, depends what its about.”

They entered Room 104 five minutes before the bell and five minutes before Mr's Zoe eventually turned up for her class.

Dead on time, as the third and final call of the bell sounded Mr's Zoe bombarded into the class with rolls of paper in his arms, at least 10 fell to the floor and the nearest students to her got up out of their seats to help her carry them to her desk.

She plonked her brief case down onto the wood with a smack and then followed the papers. One ended up on the floor again and she glared at it. “Morning class 104!” She almost screamed, waking one of the students at the back that had nodded off for five minutes.

He woke with a yelp and Eren smirked, serves him right.

“So, I know you've noticed the prints, there's a lot right.” She pointed to said papers laying on her desk, they looked more like blueprints from where he sat but now that he took a proper look at them, they were actually pictures.

He felt his skin shiver, he loved interactive lessons.

“-and I'm sure your curious but we won't be using them until some time later, cause they're kinda illegal.”

The class was silent but it didn't surprise them.

If anyone out of the whole school would be arrested they would bet it would be this crazy teacher.

She went to the board and clicked on the projector above it, it started waking up and an image began showing on the wall. She connected her laptop to the HDMI cable then to the board and a PowerPoint showed up.

The title read 'The Titan Age'.

Now, Eren didn't know much about that era, some even refused to believe in the time, saying it was in the past and that it should be left there. He knew that it was a horrible time in human history when human consuming beasts roamed the lands which they stood thousands of years ago.

A collective groan was heard from everyone and that was when Eren noticed his friends had gone suspiciously quiet, he looked to the side, Mikasa's face held a slight emotion but he couldn't tell what it was. Armin, looked as though he wanted to cry and Eren understood, it was sad- almost half of humanity was wiped out from that era...

“Now, I know this is a big subject. But, I gotta get it done because your exams could be on this...” Mr's Zoe interrupted and Eren gave his attention back to her. “The Titan Age was roughly 2000 years ago, so as you know no one would be around alive today to tell the tails of what went down then but we do have some evidence that it actually happened.”

A student raised their hand and Mr's Zoe accepted it. “Is the evidence those pictures?”

Mr's Zoe let out a loud cackle, “Oh no, but they are special to me and they do relate to this subject.”

The student seemed happy with the answer and the teacher went back to speaking. “We're not exactly sure where the Titan came from in the first place but all we know are there were three walls, Wall Sina, Wall Rose and Wall Maria, all named after the grand kings three daughters. Inside the walls were different districts. Trost, Krolva, Utopia, Karanes and Shinganshina, yes our town was named after that district and yes they are hard names but you have to remember them! Now where was I?” Mr's Zoe took a moment to think.

“Ah, yes! We know from reports the Titans infiltrated the Shinganshina wall first, many victims lost their lives. Though explorers around here are said to have found a notebook from all those years ago, it isn't signed and the language isn't the same so pretty much no one can decipher it but they believe its from that age.”

The class sat at the edges of their seats and a girl raised her hand. “Miss, how do we know its from that time?”

“Good question Mina! They aren't one hundred percent sure it is from the Titans Age but the material all match up, they tested the fabric it was made out of and it only existed during that time frame so they chalked it up to being from then, plus the mysterious language, it seems pretty suspicious.”

It seemed pretty significant to her as Eren noticed how she defended the scientists and their beliefs.

“This subject is very personal to me as some of you may have noticed and it should be to you too...” Her eyes travelled around, catching the eyes of Jean, Sasha, Connie, Mikasa, Armin and Eren.

Her expression gave away nothing as he wondered why she had looked at him like she did. He'd never seen that look before, no wait, he had. One day when he and Armin were younger. Armin asked him something about remembering something- the look was the same when he asked what the boy was talking about.

That same crestfallen look.

Eren frowned, he was starting to get an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.

He crossed his arms over his desk and leaned his chin on them, eyes staring up at the information on the screen.

“The humans set up three different military divisions; The Garrison, The Military Police and The Survey Corps. The Garrison dealt with patrolling and protecting the civilians. The Military Police were in charge of protecting the king and royal family. The Survey Corps fought back against the Titans, they helped greatly with the war against them. But once the walls collapsed, they all had to work together.” She leant over her desk from where she had been pacing the front of the class and clicked to go to the next page of the presentation.

“It wasn't going the best exactly, The Titans had the advantage against humans, by being, well, bigger and scarier. Plus, I'm sure the thought of being eaten would've scared just about anyone. But not The Survey Corps, no, they had a reputation to uphold and no matter how many comrades perished on their expeditions they always came back ready to go out again a few months later.”

Mrs Zoe began going round the class, her steps echoed in the silence of the usually loud class and she walked past each desk, speaking of the horrible things that were rumoured to have happened.

Eren listened with one ear, but the other side of him even wondered if it were real. Had this actually happened? It sounded far-fetched but the way Mrs Zoe was saying it, made him believe her words.

“That was until a hope entered the world. A nameless young warrior, couldn't be much older than you are now. They were said to be fearless, a real survivor. They were also one of the first Titan Shifters humans had ever laid eyes on.”

“Miss!” Another student interrupted and Eren gave them a dirty look. They had to interrupt at the interesting bit!

“Yes, Thomas?”

“What's a Titan Shifter?”

Mrs Zoe's eyes widened and she took a deep breathe in. “Well, from what the evidence suggests, Shifters were able to turn into a titan. But they weren't like the man eating titans, the humans from inside them controlled them. Almost like a puppet.” She made a motion with her hands to mimic a puppet master controlling a stringed puppet and Thomas sat back down.

“Now where was I again. The Shifter formed an alliance with the humans and joined The Survey Corps. And do you know who watched them?” An evil laugh left her lips but gained no reply. “Humanities Strongest Solider himself.”

“So you're saying Humanities Strongest trained the solider?” Mina asked out loud and put a hand over her mouth when she realised she spoke without raising her hand.

“I wouldn't say trained, more like watched over. Yes, he was basically in charge of the shifter.”

Eren looked at Mina in annoyance again and huffed out a sigh.

Mrs Zoe caught his eyes and then she looked at the clock hanging over by the door. “Oh my it's almost time for you to go to your next lessons!”

Everyone cried out in protest and even Eren felt himself let out a similar noise of complaint, He wanted to know more, or at least see the pictures!

“We still have tomorrow to learn more about The Titan Age so stop complaining! Although I am flattered you guys like my lessons.” A blush crossed her cheeks and the bell rang to signal the end of that period.

Eren huffed as he got up from his seat and swung his bag around his shoulder, he was annoyed he didn't have double history because that was beginning to get interesting. He silently cursed the students that had interrupted to ask questions but knew they asked reasonable questions which he'd also been itching to ask.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the second day Eren wakes up early, only to be tempted when he sees Mr's Zoe left her class door open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eren see's a few of the pictures and confusion ensues.

Eren woke up two minutes before his alarm sounded, he stared at the ceiling for that time.

Thinking back to his History lesson yesterday, he'd have more questions answered today and possibly see Mrs Zoe's special/ illegal pictures.

  


He passed his mother on the way out of his house and shouted a quick goodbye.

  


“You're leaving early, don't you want breakfast?” She called out but he was already out of the door by then, practically sprinting down the familiar path towards school.

  


He paused at the gates and looked around the lot, hardly anyone was there yet.

  


He took his time setting himself up in his locker and took out the correct books for his lessons for that day, putting them in his bag.

  


The walk towards Room 104 was quiet, he only saw a few people he knew but they didn't stop him or ask why he was there earlier than normal, some of them had commented that Mrs Zoe wasn't obviously going to show up so early and that he could wait in the cafeteria.

  


But he refused, too excited for his lesson.

  


He felt a spark go up his spine when he turned the door knob of his history room and it opened.

  


He thanked the gods that his teacher was a forgetful head and probably forgot to lock the room up after she left the previous day.

  


He stepped in to the dark room and flicked the switch to the light down. The room lit up after a few seconds and he immediately noticed a pile of rolled up paper sticking out from one of Mrs Zoe's draws in her desk.

  


It must've been the pictures!

  


With wide eyes searching his surroundings Eren approached the desk, he focused on the half open draw with one of the pictures face up sticking out of it- he chuckled at the thought of Mrs Zoe being in such a hurry to go home she must've stuffed them in there to try to hide them.

  


The picture he could see didn't look like anything special, it was black and white of course- if it was to do with The Titan Era.

  


He edged open the draw and turned to the door just in case someone had magically appeared and caught him in the act.

  


He debated if he was doing the right thing, and he knew somewhere in his brain that it wasn't but he just felt this pull towards knowing what she had bought to show them.

  


The first picture he pulled out was a landscape photo, it looked old fashioned. The houses were made of brick and the paths and streets were cobbled with stones, all in all it didn't look very nice. The picture was taken from somewhere high up off the ground and he wondered if it was taken from one of the walls that Mrs Zoe spoke of.

  


He snatched the second photo out, thinking that if he already took one out he might as well look at the others.

  


The second picture was of a street. The same cobbled stone streets as seen in the first picture. This time it was taken at human level, there were wooden market stools lining the walls of houses and people he didn't recognise -obviously- selling produce like fish and was that bread and rice? He put that picture by his side, on top of the first.

  


The third picture was taken on a beach. It looked nice, and there were people in this one! He examined the paper closer and squinted his eyes at three of the people. Their back were towards the camera but he saw the insignia on the back of their matching jackets- he was sure to ask Mrs Zoe about the image later today...

  


Fourth was of a single building, it looked a bit like a castle. A person was in one of the opened windows and it looked like they were wearing a white cloth over their faces so he couldn't see their face.

  


Where did Mrs Zoe get these?! Were they re-enactments of the titan times?

  


He took another picture, the fifth and his eyes widened. He could clearly see faces in this photo!

  


He stared and stared.

  


His knees gave out from beneath his weight and he vaguely heard his own heart beat quicken in his chest.

  


He knew that face.

  


The photo fell to the floor as his finger froze up, and he kept his eyes on the same spot where the picture had been.

  


That was his face...

  


The bell above his head sounded, signalling all students to head to their respective classes and people began to enter into Room 104.

  


He quickly snatched the pictures up from the floor and stuffed them back into the draw. But he didn't put all of them back, the last one he saw- he kept tucked away in his bag.

  


He went towards his seat, hoping no one saw him hanging around near the teachers desk but only one student had come in, Mina.

  


He smiled at her, trying to make it as real as possible with the guilt he felt roiling in his gut.

  


He'd stolen something from Mrs Zoe, a 'special photo' as she called it.

  


Fuck, he was so screwed if anyone found out! But surely she could see the resemblance between the boy in the picture compared to him.

  


She may wear glasses occasionally but she wasn't that blind!

  


He put his bag on the table and opened it to take another sneaky look at the black and white page.

  


He prayed it was all just his imagination, he couldn't be inside that picture, no it was impossible!

  


Unless he just couldn't remember having his photo taken? But it looked recent if not a few years ago- was this the nameless young soldier not much older than him? Humanities Hope?

  


He looked again at it. It was professionally taken as there were two people in the frame posing. The background was a plain grey which suggested to Eren that they were standing in front of a sheet. One of them, the younger one was sat down on a box whilst the other man stood by his side standing. They were around the same height with the younger sitting so the other one was short?

  


Eren knew he'd never seen this man before in his life so there was no way he would've forgotten having his picture taken. Plus he wasn't smiling! The younger version of -basically- himself was just blankly staring at the camera, the black haired one was also giving the camera a death glare and Eren felt bad for the photographer behind it.

  


He trained his eyes on the older male in the photo.

  


He looked around his mid 20s but could've passed for a 30 year old. He wore a cravat – which wasn't very popular nowadays- and wore the same uniform the young one had on.

  


And if he remembered back, it was the same uniform as the three faceless beach people. The same insignia was on the biceps of their light grey jackets. There was no telling the colours but he knew the old man's hair was black.

  


The class started flooding inside and Eren had to quickly put his bag away and zip it shut to keep his crime hidden as best he could.

  


Armin and Mikasa entered and he debated on whether telling them what he's done or not...

  


“Hey Eren.” Armin waved sweetly, taking his seat next to him. Mikasa as well sat on the opposite side as him and gave him a small smile.

  


He tried his best to not look guilty so he just muttered a morning and placed his head down in his arms. He stayed there until Mrs Zoe entered and he was automatically reminded of just what he'd done when her eyes took a look at her photo draw.

  


She must've noticed it wasn't how she left it and frowned.

  


Eren swallowed, she'd know who took it when she realised which photo was missing- who else would take it!

  


“Morning class 104. How're we all doing today?” She put on her usually cheery voice but Eren could tell it wasn't as lively as it once was.

  


“Back to The Titan Age!” She looked around and Eren trained his expression to look excited.

  


He must've come off suspicious because Mrs Zoe stared at him for an abnormal amount of time than was necessary.

  


“Are there any questions you guys have before we start?”

  


Mina's hand went up again. “Yes Miss! I wondered about the photos.”

  


Eren began to sweat.

  


“What about them?”

  


“Well, can't we look at them now?”

  


Mrs Zoe laughed again. “But you don't know about The Titan Age enough to see them. They were passed down my family to me and they shouldn't be seen by the public.”

  


Fuck!

  


That just made him feel worse. It was a family heirloom. He'd stolen Mrs Zoe's family heirloom photo and he peeked at them before everyone else...

  


“Now back to Humanities Strongest and Humanities Last Hope. That's what they were called by the way, so write that down. They protected one another, after their squad perished it was only them for a while. The majority of the soldiers friends survived and they all saw the ocean together. Now for the pictures!” She grabbed one of the pictures and showed it to the class. It was the beach one.

  


“Hey there are people in that one!” Thomas shouted in excitement, pointing to the three people Eren also noticed.

  


He raised his hand. “Miss Zoe.” He called, earning her attention. “Yes Eren?”

  


He swallowed before asking “What is the thing on their jackets? There's a symbol...”

  


The brunette woman gave him a mad grin. “That, my boy is the Survey Corps insignia.”

  


He wondered if it truly was that.

  


“But I'm surprised you could see the symbol from all the way over there, hmm?”

  


Shit, he had forgot he was towards the back of the class and Mrs Zoe and the picture were right at the front.

  


He coughed out awkwardly, “Yeah, I guess I got good eyes.” He knew it sounded stupid as soon as it felt his mouth and he heard Jean and Connie try to hold in their laughter.

  


His cheeked began to turn red in embarrassment and panicked.

  


She picked up the rest of the pictures in her stash and flicked through them. Her expression changed when she got to the end of the stack and she counted them again out loud.

  


The moment she knew one of them was missing she began to open all of her desk draws.

  


“Strange...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have questions, I would be happy to explain! :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren does his own research.

“What's wrong, Mrs Zoe?” Mina asked, curious as everyone was as to why their teachers tone suddenly changed.

A hand came up and waved above the rim of the desk. “Ah! Nothing, nothing.” The brunette said, lifting her head from under the table,she got up and dusted her shirt off with a small smile on her lips.

No one else knew why she was under there but Eren did.

She knew one of the photos were missing-

And yet she brushed it off like it was nothing?

Weren't they special to her?

“Anyway, back to the subject at hand!” Mrs Zoe skipped to the side of the board. “A lot of things must've happened during that era, much we don't understand nowadays. Scientists in recent years have started to go on more expeditions to find more evidence of the titan times. Some have been successful....Actually, there is one thing they recovered that's absolutely fascinating!” She suddenly burst and almost leapt into the air.

She ran to her laptop and began typing, pulling up google images on her projection. “Humanities Strongest Solider statue.” She mumbled out loud as she typed and hit enter.

A series of images popped up, all showing the same statue in different angles and Eren found his eyes glued to the large screen.

It was him!

The man in the photograph.

It was Humanities Strongest.

Although the statue didn't give him much justice with his face being decayed from thousands of years of existing, it did show his power. He stood painted in bronze on top of a stone of some sort?

He held two long swords in his hands, one flipped back behind him, the other poised in front of him, his eyes looking up into the sky as if seeing a threat, ready to pounce into battle with his last two swords.

“Legends say this is one of the most historic pieces of art known in our lifetime.”

And Eren could understand why.

It oozed power and superiority.

So, that explained who the black haired man was in the borrowed photo but what of the other one?

“As you can see here...” Mrs Zoe rummaged through another draw and pulled out a stick, extended it and aimed it at the side of one of the enlarged pictures of the statue and breathed heavily. “Right here, there's obvious signs of corrosion from many thousands of years...but there's also- what looks like- a tear.”

She moved the stick up and down and everyone's eyes followed. “I believe this was only one piece of a massive statue. The markings also fade off, leaving only one half of the memorial plaque to be seen.”

And it was true, at the bottom of Humanities Strongest there was a golden- now faded green- with words on. They weren't English or any other language for that matter but you could obviously tell it wasn't complete.

There was a second half of the statue that scientists hadn't found.

“I actually used to work on this subject when I was about 20. I told you I used to be a scientist before being a teacher, right?” She said as casually as she could.

The class was silent, having never heard her say those words in their lives.

Seeing the different shocked faces Mrs Zoe must've realised she in fact never mentioned it. “Ah, well, I was very interested in The Titan Age when I was around your age so I studied hard and by the age of 20 I got an offer from the archaeology department of the company in charge of finding evidence. That's how I got the pictures. But, if any police ask- this conversation never happened!”

Eren was shocked, he was shocked for two reasons. The fact that his teacher stole photos from the government was one thing but also, that proved the pictures were real.

His hand itched to raise, he wanted to know where she'd found them.

“But, I quit when they started getting too interested in... other subjects... and now I'm a simple teacher.” She cheered, eyes looking over towards the side of the room where the clock was. “Story times over kids!” The bell above the door rang, making Eren nearly jump out of his skin.

The class began to pack up their belongings.

No! He needed to know more.

“Mrs Zoe wait-” He called out as the beginning of the class got out of the door- leaving his closest friends with him in the class.

“Yes, Eren?” Mrs Zoe smiled, picking up their bag from the floor, getting ready to leave.

“I have a lot of questions, how-”

“A lot of students have questions Eren, you'll have to wait like the rest.”

“But, how-”

Mikasa came up by his side and tugged his arm back from where he had fisted his hand. “Eren, calm down.” She reminded, knowing how he could get when he was angry. Her voice did nothing to quell his simmering temper however.

“But I have to know!” He cried, more to his friends than to his teacher, trying to convey his panic and hoping they'd understand.

Mrs Zoe, who had paused her packing sat at her desk, arms on the lid with her chin resting in her hands. “Eren, I have a question for you.”

He went quiet.

“Why are you so interested in this subject?”

He paused and thought, why was he so emersed in it...?

Surely it was because of the pictures but he couldn't admit that otherwise they'd know he took the picture. That was it, although he couldn't help but feel a connection to the titan age.

He calmed, much to the groups happiness and looked to the floor in shame. “I'm sorry Mrs Zoe, I don't know.”

The teacher hummed, a glint in her eyes. “Alright...” She got up and left after.

“What the hell, Jaeger?!” Jean mocked, smirking at the defeated look on the other boys face.

Eren didn't reply, didn't even register the horse had spoken to him. “I'm going to my next class.” He muttered monotonously, before picking up his backpack, throwing it over his shoulder and walking straight out of room 104.

-

As soon as he got home that evening, he threw his backpack inside his room and began rummaging through his parents room for their laptop, cursing all the same that they hadn't gotten him his own. He turned on the device and waited.

What would he search for first?

Titan Age? No that'd bring up too much false information.

A picture of his family came up on the wallpaper and he quickly clicked on google.

'Humanities Strongest Soldier Statue' He hit search and the same pictures from class popped up.

The photo he took this morning was still in his bag so he grabbed it from the floor. The now familiar face looked back at him. The same straight faced, no bullshit expression and if he thought hard enough he could imagine what this man would be like in real life- or in his era.

He would surely get stared at a lot, Eren couldn't deny he was handsome and the fact that he was the strongest solider in the whole island would give him the fame and popularity.

He placed the picture to the computer screen, to compare the statue and photographed person.

The similarities all matched up, down to the uniform they were both wearing. All that was different was the fact the statue and person were in different positions. One standing waiting for a picture to be taken, the other fighting for his life.

Eren caught the eyes of the other younger boy- his doppelgänger and began tying again.

“Humanities strongest solider with boy?” Nothing remotely turned up about the connection they had which was very odd.

“Titan Age Boy?” All that came up were pictures of the same statue- even though he wasn't a boy but a man Eren hummed.

“Humanities strongest soldiers name?” Nothing came up.

“Name of Humanities strongest - Titan Age?” Again nothing.

“Titan Age people?” He read a whole Wikipedia page full of information about the era but yet again no mention of any humans.

Only Humanities strongest.

It was as if humanity only wanted to remember the man, their saviour, Humanities Strongest.

He went onto images, intensively studying the rows of pictures, there must be something, something off.

A lot of the pictures were taken with no one inside but the statue, only a few were selfies of random people with their faces close to the soldiers face.

Then finally, there was a video, it was of the grand opening of the statue, when it was first introduced to the public.

He clicked on it immediately.

It was a grey day, the clouds were covering the sky and it looked close to raining, only the first set of rows of the crowd could be seen from the cameras angle and Eren cursed the person filming- they couldn't have moved to the side a tad-

A older man entered the frame and Eren recognised him as one of the Governments pawns, but why would he be there? He began speaking but because the camera was so far away, the audio couldn't pick up the words.

Suddenly the curtain behind Zackley fell, revealing the infamous statue.

Another person came up onto the stage, a blonde man. He stood with his hands behind his back and his chest sticking out.

He took a breathe before speaking more clearly than the previous. “Here stands the saviour of the Titan Age, Humanities Strongest Solider.”

He didn't recognise the man, maybe he was part of the government too?

The camera suddenly shut off from the statue and he saw the blond man a lot closer. It was taken from an angle below where he could see it was, so Eren guessed it was a sneaky shot, trying to get information out of the generals.

“Commander Erwin Smith! I find it amazing you were able to recover such a fine piece of art work. How did you do it?” The camera person – Eren presumed- asked and the blonde, Erwin Smith.

“Obviously the whole procedure is classified but I can say that all the hard work to locate it was worth it in the end, it was perfectly preserved...”

“Oh, I would've thought it would be decayed?”

Erwin nodded, agreeing with the person filming. “Yes, it should be but he was perfect.” He then turned and gave the statue a fond look.

A spike went through Eren's body and he almost felt himself clicking off of the video, the mouse hovered over the exit button but he stopped himself when Erwin spoke again.

“It seems he's been looked after.”

A gasp was heard. “Sir, are you saying someone preserved this piece?”

A smirk crossed the older man's face, one which didn't deny nor admit the statement.

The video cut again and the screen was black.

That was it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry Eren and Levi meet soon ;)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren does some further research and has a theory.

The next morning Eren woke early again, he felt as though he couldn't sleep with how much he had found yesterday.

It wasn't much but it was enough.

Erwin Smith knew something.

That much he did know.

It was Saturday, which meant no school and normally he'd be so happy about that but he truly couldn't wait until his next history class on Tuesday. Although he had been humiliated by his teacher for being curious and asking questions -he felt -she should've answered and understood the calamity of the situation.

She wasn't blind, she must've seen how much the boy in the picture looked like him.

Didn't that freak her out?

He looked back at his parents laptop, it had fallen down onto the floor after he'd fallen asleep but the screen was still on the same video. He'd watched it a few more times after the first and it concluded his suspicions, he didn't trust Commander Erwin Smith at all.

“Erwin Smith” He typed in hesitantly, he didn't want to snoop too hard in case the FBI was keeping an eye on everyone's searches as everyone said they did and he certainly didn't want to end up on the wrong side of the government.

Many links popped up on the screen and he felt elated that he could potentially find something!

Turns out the man did work under the government, was one of the most important operatives inside and was the sworn controller and leader of all expeditions outside to explore for Titan Age evidence. He was known as the 'commander' because of his many years of service in the army.

He was a commanding officer but went missing in action before turning up years later and demanding he be in charge of the Titan Age expeditions.

A paragraph below the official picture caught his eye, the summary of his life was interesting but Eren skipped that to know of the more recent information.

A piece named 'The Statue' drew back his attention. “The now infamous statue of the Humanities Strongest was found by The Commander himself and his Squad known as the Commanding Squad. They took the statue in for weeks examining every piece of it before finally releasing it to the public as seen in the video below.” The same video he'd seen last night appeared but he didn't click it, he didn't want to see the look on the man's face again...

“Many speculate that Smith took the statue to remove any valuables off of it before the public could steal it, others believe Smith shares a connection to the statue, he even said it was special to him in one of his interviews.” He felt tempted to exit the page again but refrained to do so- angry at himself and at the feeling bubbling up inside of him, why was he feeling like this?!

Another close up of the statue was the next image and he took another closer look, the people in the Titan Ages were very detailed in their work and Eren admired that.

Each strand of hair was clearly seen and his eyelashes were finely detailed each.

“Although the name of the solider is not known, everyone appreciates what he did for humanity that day all those 2000 years ago. He, who, sacrificed his life and family for humanities sake.”

Eren had to read that again.

This man had sacrificed his family for humanity? No wonder people respected him.

The next picture was a colourised photo, obviously CGI but it looked like the man on the photo.

“This is what people think this nameless solider would look like in colour.”

The man on the picture was pale with jet black hair though he looked older in this than the original photo kept safely away in his bag. Some stray grey hairs could be seen where his side burns would be and he had wrinkles under both eyes. His mouth was set in a firm line and he looked serious, with blue eyes glaring through the screen.

Eren had to take a breath but he felt as though there was a lump stuck in his throat.

This was him and he felt as though he knew him.

He went to touch the screen but realised how weird that was and stopped, he felt an unbelievable amount of familiarity as he was looking at the coloured picture or what people made on the computer.

It did resemble the man in the photo but maybe adding a few years on his age.

There was no mention of the other boy.

But he had a sneaking suspicion Erwin Smith knew something.

He took the photo out of the top part of his bag and went to the mirror, pinned the paper to the edge and took a good look.

He couldn't tell the colours, only the fact that their hair and uniforms were dark in colour. The boys hair was dark, which looked black but he had a sneaking feeling that it was dark brown, like his own...

The eyes were light grey so trying to figure the colour out was impossible but they must be a light colour because they came up as lighter than the uniforms.

“Eren, are you not coming down for breakfast?”

His heart jumped into his throat at the sudden voice. He whipped around only to see his mother standing at his door. Her head peeking in. She gave him a shining smile. “I heard you were up but I didn't want to disturb. Is everything ok?”

“Yes!” He said a bit too quickly because her eye narrowed.

“Eren Jaeger don't lie to me.”

“I'm not-”

A hand pinched his ear and suddenly she wasn't over near the door any more, she was right by his side. “You're ears are red- Oh, who's that?”

He saw her looking up over his shoulder towards the mirror and he felt his stomach drop. “What?”

She went around him but he was quicker and snatched the photo from the mirror frame, holding it close to his chest.

She had a smile on her face and honestly he didn't want to know what she was thinking. “Eren, why are you hiding that picture?”

“No reason- what picture? Mother its for my essay!”

“Those were three separate answers mister! Now hand the picture over.” She extended her hand. When he didn't hand it over immediately she began to glare at him, her eyes demanding he hand over the paper.

He gave up and submitted, handing her the thing.

She smiled in victory but that was short lived when she saw the picture and was able to see what she saw, a frown began to appear on her lips. “Eren, where did you get this...” She said seriously.

“From class, why?” He found it odd how she changed. “Have you see the picture before?”

She jumped at the question. “Of course not! W-who's that with you though, he looks quite a bit older...”

He was confused, why was she worried about that?

At the look, she began to explain a little further. “Eren, I'm just looking out for you. You can love who you want to, but, he does look older and I'm just worried he could be using you-”

Wait, what.

Why would she say that?

“How long have you been together?”

Together...

She thought that was him. She thought the boy in the black and white photo from the Titan Age was him and she thought that Humanities Strongest soldier was his lover, that they were together.

“I mean you do suit each other, very complimentary and I like what you've done with the black and white effect. Are you cosplaying something?”

“Er, no?” It came out as a question instead of an answer because a thought entered his mind.

Humanities Strongest had a family, but it never specified who that was, whether it was his friends or whether he had a lover, a wife, kids... It never mentioned anything on his relationship with others.

He seemed too strict to love, who could love someone who was constantly serious. He took another glance at the photo.

He ignored his mothers waiting stare to grab the laptop by the lid, earning a warning from his mother that the computer could easily break if he picked it up like that.

“Humanities Strongest lover” He typed, exiting the page about Erwin Smith with a gritty taste in his mouth.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren searches Humanities Strongest's Lover...

Eren felt a presence over his shoulder, Carla was watching the screen.

“Are you learning about Humanities Strongest?” She asked, keeping quiet in case she made him jump again.

“What? Yeah, we're learning about The Titan Age.” He stuck his tongue out in concentration as a few links showed or included the words 'Humanities Strongest' and 'Lover'. He had the hard job of researching through them all to pick which ones were what he really was looking for.

The first sight he clicked on was designed by a Titan Age enthusiast called Floch Forster. He spoke about the Titan Era in a less than friendly way, said it was most probably a horrible time and he was strongly against the statue being put up in the centre of Maria where it could be worshipped by people who 'didn't know any better'.

Eren grimaced at that.

The disrespect this man had for history was shocking.

He then went onto say how Humanities Strongest was just a farce- similar to how the bible wasn't as reliable to some people because it was so old- He compared the two together and even suggested people compared this strong solider to the messiah himself.

Eren clicked out of that, this Floch seemed like a hater of Humanities strongest, probably jealous...

The next link was a slightly more professional one, less dark colours and no banners with 18+ women wanting to meet up with him 5km from his house.

It was a simple short page on the history people may have missed.

“The nameless solider known as Humanities Strongest was -safe to say- one of the strongest humans in existence. Putting all previous emperors to shame, this man fought to protect humanity.”

“Although it is speculated he did not have a good up bringing, he raised to the top as captain in the leading Survey Corps, it is unclear as to how he got into the secret organisation, all that is known is he was not happy to be there.”

Wow, this was much more of the information Eren wanted.

He felt like he hit the jackpot!

He scrolled down further, eager to read more. “He served years in training before the walls fell and almost straight after he was instructed to defend civilians against the titans.”

Eren scrolled down further but the words started fading, the page was slowly turning into a plain white.

The paragraph was just cut off.

“What?” He mumured, refreshing the page again and finding the same result. The colours of the words faded and there was no more information left once he got to the bottom of the website. “That cant be it...” Eren clicked every key on the keyboard but to no avail, nothing worked to get the remaining words to appear.

The top of the website was normal, the colours bright so that had nothing to do with the words. The bold black letters weren't faded until that point, half way through.

The comment section didn't help much either with the majority saying what a great report was on the link, saying it was the most accurate description of the Titan Era.

Weren't they experiencing Eren's problems too?

The more than enthusiastic comments didn't mention anything about having wiped troubles on their devices.

“I don't understand, where's the rest of it?” He scrolled to the top and read each subheading. One heading on the Titan Era, another on the statue and Humanities Strongest which is the page he was currently on.

Another one, was for additional information.

He clicked immediately.

“Oh look!” His mothers hand came from behind and pointed at something on the screen, just underneath a photo of a white and blue symbol. “I presume that's the author?”

He looked and sure enough there was contact information with the quote “Contact me if you want to know more!” next to it.

“Hanji Z?” He hovered over the name hoping it would give more.

Nothing happened but there was an email address connected to the name.

Interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren makes contact.

“Eren are you really sure you want to contact this person?” His mother said in a calm voice, it did nothing to quell his thirst to know more.

He probably would've listened to her but he was too invested!

It seemed weird that he was contacting a complete stranger about something that many didn't believe existed until recent times but if they could tell him something, he would be forever grateful.

“I really need this for my essay, mother.” He whined, playing it off for school work would surely win her over.

“I know darling but... contacting someone with an email name like-” She leaned down to read the screen. “Hanjilovestitans 0909@woohoo.com? Seems sketchy.”

Eren laughed at the name rather than found it weird.

This may be the person he was looking for!

He opened his email, logged out of his parents account and accessed his own. He had some unread ones but he'd read them later.

He clicked compose and started typing.

“ _Hello Hanji Z,_

_I have come from your website about the Titan Era. I am really interested in the topic and would like to know more!_

_Regards-”_

He didn't want to put his real name, there was a feeling in his stomach saying not to.

“ _Regards, Percy.”_

His grandparents once had a dog called Percy so why not?

His mother placed her hand on his shoulder as his cursor hovered over the send button. “Are you sure, Eren?”

There was something about the way that she said it that made him hesitate, she sounded so forlorn and kind of sad. He turned around and her face was the same, she wasn't smiling like she usually did. “Mother, it's going to be fine. Once I get this info, I'll pass easily!”

“I'm not worried about your grades, dear.” She huffed, turning to go out of his door and into the living room.

He didn't question her odd behaviour until after he'd hit the send button, before muting his email name so that this Hanji Z wouldn't be able to see his real email name, if he called himself Percy, the person would know he was lying because of his email which held his full name.

His mother wasn't one for unhappiness, unless it was to do with his grades- if they were bad- which majority of the time they weren't... or when he gets into fights with horse-face and the school had to call her to say Eren had instigated it (which on some occasions just wasn't true!).

He knew her main emotions were happy and angry, she wasn't sad much even with his father being away at work nearly all of the time helping patients in Maria Hospital. She always had a smile on her face and it was what the neighbourhood knew her for.

It also didn't help that people thought Eren looked like her twin because then they automatically assumed he was just like her, smiley and happy. It was the opposite. He did have happy moments, but majority of the time- people would say- he was angry and defensive.

He couldn't make friends easy and only having three true friends didn't look good on his reputation.

He didn't know what bought on her sudden change.

-

No reply came.

The next day, Sunday hadn't bought any change to his mothers attitude either.

She greeted him when he came down to grab some cereal but she wasn't as chipper as she usually was.

“Did that Titan Lover get back to you?” She asked as he was chewing, almost making him choke at the question and name.

“Erm, no they haven't yet...” He scratched his head in embarrassment, maybe it was an old account. He didn't bother to check the date of the website so the email could be deactivated by now... but his email did send and didn't come back so it must've been received at least.

The kitchen began to brighten and he realised his mother was smiling. “Really?” She asked for confirmation.

“Yes?”

He swore he saw her do a fist pump in the air when he looked up again but maybe he was imagining things.

Didn't she want his grades to be good?

Although he did lie about that to her and she bought it, he couldn't help but wonder why she'd been so unhappy until now. His father hadn't come home that weekend- complaining of dealing with more patients than usual lately- so maybe she was sad because he wasn't returning until next weekend?

His pocket buzzed mid-thought and he almost swallowed the spoon in his mouth when he thought whether his email was replied to.

He pulled his phone out and looked.

It was a text from Armin.

Eren sighed. He was happy that his friend was messaging him but he wasn't expecting it so he got his hopes up.

_**'Did you get the letter?' -A** _

Letter? He looked at the front door behind his back, no mail had come as of yet but it was Sunday so he kind of expected that.

_**'What letter?' - E** _

It took a while for the blonde to reply.

_**'You'll find out tomoz' – A** _

Tomorrow was school so he presumed it had something to do with a school letter, maybe it was the years grades. He already knew he'd excelled in everything besides one subject.

“Who was that?” His mothers voice came from the kitchen, damn her hearing for being so good! She must've heard it vibrate.

“It was Armin, said something about a letter. We didn't get any mail today, did we?”

It went quiet before she spoke again. “There's a letter for you on the end table near the door.”

He looked over and there on the top of the counter was a white envelope. His schools insignia printed on the right side and his address on the left. He scrunched it open, ripping the top unevenly and read.

“Dear Parent/ Care Giver.

The schools history department has requested the attendance of all history students to attend a school field trip in the next two weeks. The class of 104 will be able to gain more information on their chosen subject for the exam as well as get to experience touring a local museum in Maria. As the class have been learning about the Titan Era we view it as important that the pupils be allowed on such a trip as the exams may include information they will learn during it.”

He stopped reading.

A school trip to Maria, that could only mean one thing.


End file.
